Motion picture camera



J. DE HEER MOTION PICTURE CAMERA Sept. 12, 1939.

Filed July 16, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 MOTION PICTURE CAIERA Filed July 16, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 meme p 12 1939 2,172.438

' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MOTION OAfiE-A Jacob de Heer, Amsterdam, Netherlands Application July 16, 1937, Still] N 0.\153,921 I 2 Claims. (01. -$818) I My invention relates to cameras for use in conthe light aperture, 1 is the revolving shutter or nection with the taking and projecting of motion Maltese cross movement, 8 is the reciprocatory pictures, more especially on substandard film. film gripping member, the pins 9 of which, ex-

It is an object of my invention to provide tending through slots in the pressure plate ill, means, whereby two rows of pictures juxtaposed project into the sprocket perforations of the film. on a film can be taken and projected by revers- II is the resiliently moiinted film guide. Above ing the direction of travel of the film. and below the light aperture in the pressure plate I am aware that film cameras have been sugin are provided two guides l2, between which gested, in which, when the .illm passes from one slides a shutter it formed with an aperture l4 spool to the other, only one half of the width of and connected by means of a double-armed lever 10 the film is exposed. After the whole of the film mechanism It with the spindle 4. has travelled past the lens and is wound up alto- To the rear of the pressure plate the sprocket gether on the winding-up spool, the camera is 46 is mounted on the axle it, being driven by opened, the two spools are exchanged and the the coil spring-actuated wheel ll mounted on a film is passed once more past the lens, the secshaft ll. The sprocket It leads the film from 0nd spool now functioning as the first spool and and to the spools l9 and and past the pressure vice versa. In this operation the other half of plates, I I, II. The spool i8 is provided with a the width of thefilmisexposed. recording lever 2i and crank 22 mounted for The steps of exchanging the. spools etc. are rotation on the spring-controlled axle 23.

rendered unnecessary it accordingto this inven- A similar lever 24 with crank 25 and axle 26 tion the lens is made adjustable relative to the is provided for cooperation with the spool 20. camera and the spool revolving mechanism is Fig. 1 illustrates the position of the parts, in made reversible. If in such a camera one half which the spool l9 still carries part of the film, of the width of the film has been exposed, the the greater part of which is already wound on the lens is merely shifted transverselyto the film so spool 20. The scale 21 fixed to the axle 23 of 25 as to be located in front of the other half of the lever 2i renders the progress of unwinding of the film. On the spools being now revolved in the film from the spool," visible. opposite directionand the camera turned upside A partition 28 separates these parts from the down, the other half of the width of the film is transmission mechanism. In a top compartexposed. v I i mer t 29 are arranged the finder lenses 30 and 30 In the drawings aifixed to this specification 3| for use in one position, and in the bottom comand forming part thereof a film camera embody-' partment 32 the finder lenses 33 and 34 for use in ing my invention is illustrated diagrammatically the inverse position of the camera. by way'of example. r The mechanism illustrated in Fig. 2 is driven In the drawingsby a sprocket 35 mounted on the axle ll of the 35 Fig. 1 is a side elevation partly in vertical sec-. coil spring. This sprocket 35 rotates always in tion of the camera with one side wall removed. the same direction as indicated by the two ar- Fig. 2 is a similar view of the mechanism separows. It vmeshes permanently with a sprocket 1 rated by a partition from the'fiim spools etc. 36 on an side 31, about which turns a doubles Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the top part of the. armed lever 18, 39, the arm 38 of which is pulled 40 front wall of the camerashowing the means for downwardly by a spring 40 and carries a toothed displacing the lens, partly in section. I wheel 4i, which meshes with a toothed wheel 42 Fig. 4 is a cross section on the line IV-IV in which is mounted on the axis it of the film Fig. 1. i conveyer sprocket I6 and permanently meshes Fig. 5 illustrates a detail. with another "toothed wheel 43.

Fig. 6 shows the picture frame and adjoining 0n the axlefl is further mounted a sheave 44 P s O 8 1 80846. the front wall being which is coupled by an elastic cord 45 with a shown in section. .7 sheave 46 mounted for rotation at the free end Referring tothe drawings, l is the lens and 2 of the lever arm 39 and is coupled with a toothed are horizontal guidesi'or the lens board, which wheel 41. In the position shown inthe. drawing can be shifted laterally,'being actuated for this this wheel meshes with a toothed wheel 48 purpose by an arm I mounted on a spindle 4 exmounted on the axle 20' of spool 20. On the axle tending across the camera. I is a spring catch ll of spool II is mounted a toothed wheel 49, located in the lower guide l and serving to arrest which permanently meshes with a toothed wheel thelensboard'inoneortheotherposition. is 64. r

At the end of the lever arm 39 is further mounted a lever 5!, the recessed end of which supports a hook 53 acted upon by a spring 52. A hook-shaped lever 54 fixed to the axle 26 exerts pressure on the hook 53.

To arm 38 is further connected a rod 55 which is linked to a lever 56 mounted on the spindle 4. 0n the rear end of this spindle is fixed a crank 58 serving to turn the spindle one way or the other.

To the arm 39 is further pivoted a rod 59, the top end of which is linked to a flap 60 mounted for rocking motion in the top compartment 23.

"The bottom end of rod 59 is linked to a similar fiap'6l mounted for rocking motion in the bottom compartment 32. The flap 6| extends at right angles to the flap Bfl.

When the camera is used for an exposure in the position shown in the drawings, the parts will all be driven by the spring H in the directions indicated by the arrows drawn in full lines.

Thecompartment 23 is unobstructed by the flap 60, and the finder lenses 30, 3| are now free for use. The film is wound upon the spool 25 and in proportion as the winding up proceeds, the lever 24 is oscillated and the axle 26 rotated, whereby the lever 54 is caused to force the hook 53 towards the right, and when the film is wound up completely on spool 20, the hook 53 will release thearm 5|, whereupon spring 40 will rock the double-armed lever 38, 39 in anticlockwise direction. In consequence of this movement- 1. Gear wheel 4| will roll in contact with wheel 36 and, before being released altogether by wheel 42, will engage wheel 43, whereby the film transport wheel I6 is braked. On wheel 4| having released wheel 42 and engaged wheel 43 exclusively, the direction of rotation of the transporting wheel I6 is reversed, while in view of the rapid changing over of wheel 4| from wheel 42 to wheel 43 the coil spring is prevented from unwinding rapidly.

2. The gear wheel 41, in being lifted by the arm 39, is disengaged from wheel 48, whereby the spool 20 is released, whereupon wheel 41 engages wheel 50 and drives the axle IQ of spool IS in opposite direction, so that now this spool starts rewinding the film.

3. The lowering movement of arm 38 also causes the rod 55 to be lowered and the spindle 4, coupled with this rod, to be imparted an angular movement, whereby the lever 3 (Fig. 3) is caused to shift the lens I, while the lever mechanism l5 at the same time shifts the shutter I3 to follow the movement on the lens.

4. The arm 39 in rising also lifts the rod 59, whereby the position of the shutters and 6| is reversed, shutter Bl now uncovering the finder lenses in the bottom compartment.

The camera can now be operated further until the film is rewound altogether onto the spool l9, when both sides of the film have been exposed. After the spool carrying the film has been removed and afresh film inserted, the crank 58 is operated to rock spindle 4 back into its original position. The rounded end of lever 5| forces the hook 53 aside, and the hook is then pulled back by spring 52 into engagement with the arm 5|, the movement of the hook 53 being limited by the stop 64. The movements of the double-armed lever 38, 35 are limited by stops 62 and 63.

In order to prevent the camera from being used for exposure without the parts of the mechanism being previously returned into the correct position shown in the drawing, the device illustrated in Fig. 5 is provided, in which a crank fixed on the spindle 4 is linked by means of a link 56 to a double-armed lever 61 pivoted on an axle 68. When the spindle 4 is rotated during the reversal of the film movement, the lever 61 is rocked in the direction of the arrow, until its free end projects in front of, and thereby locks, the spool IS on its axle l9. Therefore, after the spool H! has been rotated for the winding up of the film, it can be removed from its axle l9 only after the locking lever 61 has been rocked back into its original position, whereby the spindie 4 is also rocked and thereby causes all the parts to return into their original position also.

I wish it to be understood that I do not desire to be limited to the exact details of construction shown and described for obvious modifications will occur to a person skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. A motion picture camera comprising in combination, a pair of spools, means for rotating said spools, a double-armed lever, a gear on one arm of saidlever arranged to be alternately coupled with one and the other spool, a lens, means for shifting said lens transversely to the direction of travel of a film extending between said spools, a gear on the other end of said lever arranged for operative connection with said lens shifting means, means for transmitting motion from said spool rotating means to the gears on said lever, a permanently active means tending to turn said lever in one direction and means, influenced by the diameter of the roll of film on one of said spools, for temporarily holding one of said gears in operative engagement with that latter spool.

2. The camera of claim 1, in which a lever is coupled with the reversing gear, which is arranged to temporarily lock one of the spools when the film has been rewound thereon.-

JACOB or: HEER. 

